Oyster Therapeutics Raises $60M Series A for Pills That Destroy Toxic Tau
Most Alzheimer's drugs that reached patients go after amyloid. Oyster Therapeutics is betting on the other protein, tau, and on a different mechanism: instead of blocking it, a pill that gets the cell to destroy the pathogenic forms.
The London biotech raised a $60 million Series A led by 4BIO Capital, according to Axios Pro Rata. Endpoints reported the round on Nov 10 and says the money is to develop small-molecule degraders against pathogenic tau. The CEO is Robert Johnson. Other investors, valuation and a detailed use of funds weren't in anything readable: the Endpoints story is paywalled past the first sentence and no company release was found.
For readers outside biotech, a degrader is a small molecule that tags a target protein so the cell's own disposal system breaks it down. It's a hot approach in cancer. In the brain it's harder, because the drug has to cross the blood-brain barrier and tell bad tau from normal tau, which the body needs. An oral pill, if it works, is a big practical advantage over infused antibodies. This one is early stage and thinly sourced, so treat it as a signal that money for neurodegeneration is still flowing in London, not as a verdict on the science.
Source: https://endpoints.news/london-startup-raises-60m-for-degraders-aimed-at-alzheimers-protein-tau/ (round details: https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pro-rata)
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The London biotech raised a $60 million Series A led by 4BIO Capital, according to Axios Pro Rata. Endpoints reported the round on Nov 10 and says the money is to develop small-molecule degraders against pathogenic tau. The CEO is Robert Johnson. Other investors, valuation and a detailed use of funds weren't in anything readable: the Endpoints story is paywalled past the first sentence and no company release was found.
For readers outside biotech, a degrader is a small molecule that tags a target protein so the cell's own disposal system breaks it down. It's a hot approach in cancer. In the brain it's harder, because the drug has to cross the blood-brain barrier and tell bad tau from normal tau, which the body needs. An oral pill, if it works, is a big practical advantage over infused antibodies. This one is early stage and thinly sourced, so treat it as a signal that money for neurodegeneration is still flowing in London, not as a verdict on the science.
Source: https://endpoints.news/london-startup-raises-60m-for-degraders-aimed-at-alzheimers-protein-tau/ (round details: https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-pro-rata)
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